Humboldt Park man, 18, charged with killing 2-month-old baby

A Humboldt Park man admitted to shaking his infant daughter so hard, it killed the 2-month-old, Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.

And days after Aliya Acosta died, 18-year-old Christopher Villegas allegedly tried to strangle the child’s mother.

Villegas was ordered held without bond on a charge of first-degree murder in the death Aliya, who died on Feb. 9 after three weeks on life support at Lurie Childrens Hospital.

The child’s mother left Aliya alone with Villegas for several hours on Jan. 17, when she heard the baby “cry out in a strange way” from Villegas’ bedroom, Assistant State’s Attorney Craig Taczy said Thursday at a bond hearing.

The woman went to the bedroom and found the baby on the bed and saw she was struggling to breathe, Taczy said.

She and Villegas took the child to St. Mary’s Hospital, where the doctors noted the baby’s skin was gray, her pulse was weak and the child was unable to breathe.

Aliya was transferred to Lurie, where she was diagnosed with bleeding inside her skull, low blood flow to the brain, and fractured ribs. The family decided to turn off life support on Feb. 9, and the child died.

Five days later, Villegas allegedly got into an argument with the girl’s mother, shoved her onto a couch and began choking her.

She struggled free, but Villegas hit her and threw her down onto the couch again, choking her with both hands, Taczy said.

Villegas, who knew the woman was pregnant when he attacked her, was arrested and charged with aggravated domestic battery, but was released on electronic monitoring.

In February, detectives investigating the domestic battery case also questioned him about the death of his daughter, and Villegas admitted he “shook the baby too hard,” and that the infant’s “eyes became glazed before the (baby) began throwing up,” Taczy said.